Firm Description

Coulson Harney is a corporate law firm based in Nairobi, Kenya. In recent years countries around Africa have come into focus as attractive destinations for businesses from all over the world. This increased interest in Africa brings with it the need for high quality legal advice at the local level and, in many situations, at a cross-border advisory and transaction management level. At Coulson Harney, our aim is to assist our clients in achieving their objectives as smoothly and efficiently as possible whilst minimising the legal and regulatory risks, both within Kenya and further afield in Africa. Whilst first-class technical advice is always important, the ability to deliver that advice in a coherent, relevant way, combined with transaction management, structuring, negotiating and drafting skills is essential to the supply of high quality legal services.

Although established in 2008, in response to demand from our clients, the firm has grown rapidly from four to 22 legal staff, thus putting us on a level with the other corporate commercial law firms in Kenya. Coulson Harney has also quickly moved up the rankings of the international legal directories such as Chambers Global, Legal 500, PLC and International Financial Law Review. Coulson Harney has six partners, including the hugely experienced and well-recognised founding partners, Richard Harney and Philip Coulson, and a wealth of talented senior lawyers and associates with qualifications and work experience in Kenya, the United Kingdom and Australia drawn from private legal practice, the public and from the private sector. Our lawyers work on Kenyan domestic matters and transactions, and on international and cross-border advisory mandates for a wide range of clients.

Areas of Practice

• Company and commercial law
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Banking, insurance and financial services
• Telecommunications law
• Legal due diligence and forensic investigations
• Privatisation transactions
• Joint ventures and business formation
• Intellectual property protection
• Corporate restructuring
• Insolvency and receivership
• Equity and debt capital markets and securities
• Conservation and tourism development
• Competition law
• Mining and prospecting
• Environmental law
• Regulatory advice in telecommunications, banking, insurance and capital markets
• Employment law and work benefits
• Taxation
• Real estate development and conveyancing
• Private client and estate planning

Coulson Harney benefits from a close association with Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys (BG), one of the premier South African corporate and commercial law firms. BG has almost 300 lawyers (including partners) with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The association is a key step in the development of BG’s presence in the rest of Africa. In time, BG will offer a joint legal advisory service to clients in a number of key markets around Africa.

The association provides Coulson Harney with a springboard for its involvement in legal advisory work in Africa, which is seen as a key market for the firm. In addition BG allows seamless access to its knowledge pool and to its world-class legal, IT and office management resources.